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• Wagner Fineness - The fineness of materials such as portland cement expressed as total surface area in centimeters per gram as determined by the Wagner turbidimeter apparatus and procedure.
• Water-Cement Ratio - The ratio of the amount of water, exclusive of that absorbed by the aggregates, to the amount of cement in a concrete mix. Typically expressed as percentage of water, by weight in pounds, to the total weight of portland cement, fly ash, and any other cementitious material, per cubic yard, exclusive of any aggregates.
• Waterproof - A material or surface that is impervious or unaffected by water in its liquid form will repel water in its liquid form, but may not necessarily be vaporproof.
• Water Vapor Pressure - The pressure exerted by water vapor. Air that contains higher amounts of water vapor exerts a higher vapor pressure than air which has a lower amount. Water molecules will migrate from areas of high water vapor pressure (or high relative humidity) towards areas of lower water vapor pressure (lower humidities). In concrete, water vapor pressure is calculated by the difference between the vapor pressure of the concrete and the ambient relative humidity and temperature. The greater the difference between the water vapor and ambient humidity and temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit), the greater the water vapor pressure exerted.
• Wetting Agent - A substance capable of lowering the surface tension of liquids, facilitating the wetting of solid surfaces and permitting the penetration of liquids into the capillaries.
• Workability - The ease with which a given set of materials can be mixed into concrete and subsequently handled, transported, placed and finished with a minimum loss of homogeneity.
• Yield - The amount of concrete produced by a given combination of materials, the total weight of ingredients divided by the unit weight of the freshly mixed concrete; also, The cubic test of concrete produced per sack of cement; also, the number of product units, such as block, produced per batch of concrete or sack of cement.

Contributions: Kaiser Cement, Portland Cement Association, Concrete Manual, Bureau of Reclamation, U. S. Department of the Interior and many other publications, with special thanks to Bob Cameron of W. R. Meadows. © 2008 Moxie International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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